Nigerian Stock Market Surges N117bn on Monday

Nigerian stock market surged N117bn on Monday after 18 stocks led by Dangote Cement Plc. recorded significant gain.

Dangote Cement Plc, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Fidson Healthcare Plc, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc and Tiger Branded Consumer Goods Plc emerged top five gainers as at the close of trading hour.

A total of 467.239 million shares valued at 1.489bn were traded in 2,549 deals.

At the end of trading, the NSE market capitalisation soared to N8.452tn from N8.335tn, while the All-Share Index climbed to 24,570.73 basis points from 24,228.79 basis points.

The stock index rose by 1.41 per cent, its highest level in two weeks, supported by investors’ interest in the shares of Dangote Cement majorly, which accounts for a third of the local bourse’s capitalisation.

The stock index has the second-biggest weighting after Kuwait on the MSCI frontier market index.

The highest index attained by the market in the course of trading on Monday was 24,570.73, while the lowest and average index points were 23,883.34 and 24,163.31 basis points, respectively.

Dangote Cement shares appreciated by N6.75 (five per cent) to close at N141.73 from N135, while those of Ecobank closed at N16.75 from N15.96, up by N0.79 (4.95 per cent).